31-20-3. Order deferring or suspending sentence; diagnostic commitment.

Upon entry of a judgment of conviction of any crime not constituting a capital or first degree felony, any court having jurisdiction when it is satisfied that the ends of justice and the best interest of the public as well as the defendant will be served thereby, may either: 

A. enter an order deferring the imposition of sentence; 

B. sentence the defendant and enter an order suspending in whole or in part the execution of the sentence; or 

C. commit the convicted person, if convicted of a felony and not committed for diagnostic purposes within the twelve-month period immediately preceding that conviction, to the department of corrections [corrections department] for an indeterminate period not to exceed sixty days for purposes of diagnosis, with direction that the court be given a report when the diagnosis is complete as to what disposition appears best when the interest of the public and the individual are evaluated. 

  History: 1953 Comp., § 40A-29-15, enacted by Laws 1963, ch. 303, § 29-15; 1971, ch. 204, § 4; and recompiled as 1953 Comp., § 40A-29-39, by Laws 1977, ch. 216, § 16; 1985, ch. 159, § 1.